1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sampling device which can be used to take samples from a moving stream of fluid. Such device allows the sampled fluid to be separated and retained in liquid and gaseous phases.
2. Prior Art
There are many prior art devices which can be used to sample fluids from a moving stream. In particular, vacuum bombs can be utilized to draw fluid into the evacuated bomb over a given period of time. Other devices can be utilized and can include condensers through which gases can be passed and which are maintained at a temperature, in many instances, below the dew point of the gaseous material flowing through such condenser to cause condensation. Still other devices rely on the use of an absorption medium such as a liquid or solid absorbent material to absorb the fluid or gaseous material onto the medium and thereafter through desorption of such absorbent in a vacuum the absorbed material can be released and thereafter analyzed.
Most of the prior art sampling devices, because of their design for analyzing and collecting single phase samples of a gas or a liquid, present difficulties when it is desired to sample and accurately analyze both liquid and gaseous components of a fluid stream.
The presently claimed device presents an improvement over the prior art in that it can sample a condensable fluid easily be separating the fluid into condensate (liquid) and liquid-free gaseous components. More particularly, the present device, being essentially a vacuum chamber and a condensing section, will cause gaseous material which contains condensable fluids to pass through the condensing section of the device for condensation. The liquid is trapped in the reservoir means placed below the cooling means with the non-condensable gaseous component being further passed on and into a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to store non-condensable gaseous components of the fluid sampled. After a given amount of fluid is sampled the vacuum chamber can be sealed to hold the gaseous component of the sample fluid while the reservoir means which is adjacent to the cooling means can be sealed to hold the liquid component of the sampled fluid maintained therein. The claimed device can be separated at the connection of the reservoir and throttling valve means to provide a relatively pure gaseous non-condensable component for analysis through gas analysis means and a liquid component which can be subjected to liquid analysis.